The Shift

As I write this, I’m soaring 33,000 feet somewhere over Montana on the final leg of my journey from Florida to Portland, Oregon for the third annual World Domination Summit(affectionately known as WDS). By the time you read this, I’ll be immersed in the juicy mix of 3,000 bloggers, entrepreneurs, travelers, artists, nomads and seekers responding to the call of chief nonconformist Chris Guillebeau to live a remarkable life in a conventional world.

The Transformational Power of WDS

2012’s World Domination Summit was my first, and as I reflect on the incredible connections, powerful speakers and life-altering moments it delivered (more in my before and after posts) I can’t help but wonder how this year’s event will shape up and how it can possibly top last year’s. It is tripling in size, for one, from 1,000 souls last year to three times that many in 2013 and it still sold out six months ahead of time.

After having been a fan of Chris for several years plus hearing about the success of his inaugural WDS in 2011, I attended last year without hesitation but with plenty of trepidation. I ventured forth alone, knowing no one but finding it effortless and exhilarating to meet so many kindred spirits.

Recently this story about a journey crossed my path. You may have run across it yourself; it’s often read at funeral and memorial services:

The Dragonfly

Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions.

Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened their friend was dead, gone forever.

Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, [click to continue…]

If you’ve been through a shift or you’re still shifting, it can be a wild ride. As I described in my last two posts, at first it’s usually not much fun. In fact that’s an understatement: it can feel as if your world is crumbling, you’re backsliding, or nothing is happening at all. There can be pain and loss, confusion and convolution, even upheaval. Yet, once you realize those are only early markers of an ongoing process and begin feeling the momentum of movement, it’s a whole other story.

Let’s Get to the Good Part Already!

That’s when the ride gets fun! After the choice point, assuming you’ve moved into action, the action itself is exhilarating, fulfilling, enriching and even if challenging, deeply meaningful; at least, that’s exactly how it has felt for me. Your days are accounted for yet fly by without a worry. Your plate and calendar are full yet you’re not overwhelmed – you are instead fueled and fed. You care not about time nor notice its passage, for you’re living in the moment and loving [click to continue…]

Last week I began a Behind the Scenes look at Shifting. Since most people go through a similar process, I’ve illustrated it in five stages. Part 1 explained the first three stages – Transition States, Perceptual Markers Disappearing, and the Void Point. This post will explore the final two stages: the Choice Point and Action.

Stage 4: The Choice Point: The good news is, you can’t and won’t stay in the Void Point forever. The universe abhors a vacuum, remember? When you accept and witness the void point as the no-man’s land it is, you quickly arrive at the Choice Point: the point at which you either choose to stay in lower states of consciousness, stuck in overwhelm, or evolve.

This is a critical juncture. Here is where free will comes into play; here is where you consciously begin to access your power as creator or choose to deny it and remain victim. Yes, we have a choice. Whether you choose to step back or step forward will determine whether you remain in lower states of consciousness or shift.

For the past few months I’ve been writing about my personal journey through the shift in consciousness I see humanity moving through. Although I think we as a whole are evolving, there are billions of different individual stories illustrating how we’re doing so. While we’ll all end up at the same place, there are billions of different paths leading there. There are billions of unique ways we will each hear and respond to the call to shift – a husband’s path will be different than his wife’s, two friends may wildly diverge, and so on. And there will be billions of different time-frames in which shift happens – but mostly that’s up to how fast we each decide to get on board.

For me, major stuckification in February was a tip-off that my time to shift was at hand. Although I didn’t quite believe it then, didn’t intellectually or practically know how it would play out, and was overflowing with attendant fears ranging from getting more stuck to being divorced, jobless and destitute to perhaps the worst – that the status quo would continue – from a deeper place I knew that darkness [click to continue…]

Reflections on Beginnings, Endings, and Duality

Okay, now that I have your attention I won’t make you wait. What could these diverse celebrities possibly share at the moment other than the media spotlight? Plenty when we look below the surface glitz and shiny bright lights of media coverage.

They are all experiencing very public, highly publicized shifts. Yes, like so many of us, they are quickly and powerfully shifting. Bigger still, the fact that their shifts are promoted and known to the point of global awareness is no accident. These players are in the international spotlight – some consciously, others not – to bring laser focus to a critical realization we all need to have as we shift into being our authentic selves.

Sure enough, they’re not all shifting in the same direction nor with conscious intention, but their shifts have one major characteristic in common. It’s a characteristic we all share, in fact, it’s a defining characteristic of who we are. That characteristic is [click to continue…]

Please, if you do nothing else as you are shifting, show yourself some love.

Shifting is not for the faint of heart. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Whether it’s Ali Brown of Secret Millionaire going from star to stark (and as she admitted on a private call, from Jag to Prius), or your empty-nester mom starting a new job after staying at home to raise you, or you finally facing your relationship demons, it’s a roller coaster ride for us all.

What you’re about to read may sound rudimentary, but it’s amazing how quickly we neglect our basic physical, human needs for things that aren’t worth it. I assure you, now is not the time to do so. Thus, a gentle reminder feels appropriate. (Lord knows, I’m still struggling with the second point below almost daily!)

How to Show Yourself Some Love

I can philosophize on what showing yourself some love means but I’d rather tell you in concrete, actionable steps you can take beginning right now. So here goes: [click to continue…]

Man is there a lot of shifting going on in April. The pace has picked up, and for me personally it’s becoming a thrilling ride.

At the start of this year I made a conscious decision to move in the direction of my dreams. I just didn’t realize how fast I’d be moving.

By early March I found my passion for taking Accidental Seeker from a blog to a livelihood barely containable. All I had to do was give voice to this desire – and several ideas accompanying it – and it began to manifest. Yeah, pretty much on its own. I didn’t need to forge ahead so much as I have been instantly, unexpectedly pushed.

Recap: What’s The Shift?

Apologies for leaving you for a few weeks after writing Welcome to The Shift, the first in a series I’m writing to chronicle my own process of shifting and to reach others moving through what’s become known as “The Shift”.

To recap, this “Shift” is what I (among many others) define as our collective and individual evolution into higher consciousness. Simply put, we are shifting from living life at the surface level of human ego, basic survival and physicality into recognition of our true selves as an expression of a unified whole. Despite outer appearances, we’re growing into an awareness of humanity as not many and separate physical beings, but rather as one collective multi-dimensional organism that is at a tipping point of either great promise or peril.

This evolution is occurring at both individual and collective levels. That can sound confusing or contradictory, especially after I just told you we are growing into an awareness of individual players as a collective whole. But the reality of this shift is [click to continue…]

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